Stardust in His Eyes
by elleismyname
Summary: Abandoned at sixteen, Jyn Erso focused on survival, taking on several aliases to protect her true identity. For the next five years her dangerous lifestyle put her at odds with the Empire, and the elite Krennic family. This story follows her through three of her aliases, Kestrel Dawn, Tanith Ponta, and Liana Hallik. Pre-Rogue One.
1. Krennic's Son

**Stardust in His Eye**

 **A Star Wars Story**

Chapter One: Krennic's Son

 _In which the destruction of Malpaz triggers a series of events leading to the abandonment of Jyn and the rise of the Empire._

"What are you drawing?" Galen Erso reached down to scoop up the bundle of blankets and holopads on the floor. His late return from work gave him few precious hours to spend with his family.

Traffic outside the windows of the towers sent alternating streams of light into the complex. The toddler next to the mess on the floor held up her drawing in both her small fists, displaying it shyly.

"It's beautiful Jyn. Who is it?"

"A man. Look, his name is Brin!" The scribbles evidently portrayed a man holding tools and books. His hair was greying. Jyn looked down. "I guess you can be Brin, if you want to."

A sudden flush of guilt washed over Galen. He took the drawing from her fingers, noting the uniform she had drawn was exactly like his own. Since Orson set him up at the sustainable energy program _Celestial Power_ , his research took away every ounce of time he had to spend.

"I'd love to, Jyn," he said gently, pulling her up from the floor into his arms. "Tell me about him."

The more she talked, the more he began to regret not being present for her, to watch her learn, develop, and grow.

They played on the floor until Jyn fell asleep. Galen took her to the couch.

"Have I truly neglected you?" Galen Erso's eyes filled with tears instead of visions of kyber-energy development. The small head of his daughter rested on his shoulder, peaceful in sleep. He played with the ends of her braids, his usual steady hand trembling. He glanced towards the corners of the room, the security cameras blinking in his direction.

"Lyra," he called out for his wife.

Her head swung up from the countertop, startled from sleep. The mere call off her name sent her heart fluttering. Lyra entered from the next room, her hair falling in cascades at her shoulders. She held out her hand.

"Yes?"

Bring the hand of his wife to his lips, he tighten his grip on her fingers.

"Join us," he said. It was all he could say.

"What Papa?" Jyn's green eyes blinked open, and she shifted quietly in his arms.

"Nothing, Stardust. Go back to sleep."

"Goodnight Papa."

Galen turned to Lyra, the sky towers surrounding their quarters illuminating the room. Though it was night, it never seemed to darken above levels on Coruscant.

Something had to be done. He pulled Lyra closer to him, so that her head rested under his. She was tense, all the muscle of her small framework bunched uncomfortably.

"Remember the attack on Malpaz?" she said, barely moving her lips, her head turned from cameras. Galen closed his eyes, his heart racing. Krennic had claimed that it was an attack.

 _It's an attempt to sow chaos in the Empire, Galen. It's purely evil intention. They hurt so many people._

Galen didn't buy it, but, playing along, he secured trust with Krennick. He agreed to work intensely, under complete secrecy from Lyra.

 _Think of your little daughter. I have a son at home, and I would do anything to keep him safe. Tell no one of your research, Galen. No one._

And so, Galen spoke. "Do you know the truth?"

"Yes."

Silence crept around the corners of the room, spreading like a disease.

"All those lives lost were because of me," Galen's voice never achieved a whisper, yet the strain told his grief more than angry shouts and sobs. "The energy couldn't be contained. There was no attack. We killed thousands of people."

Lyra shifted closer, her heart pounding.

"How do you know?"

"Orson has become drowsy on my success."

"And you're waking up," she said slowly. "This house has us captured at every angle. I just knew."

"You're too smart," He commented, moving Jyn closer.

"Anything else?"

"They're making a weapon. It's a machine to kill entire planets."

"A star-killer."

"Yes."

"That was the reason for the planetary evacuation?"

His only answer was the droop of his eyes, guilt casting a shadow on their small home.

"What can we do?" Galen spoke at last.

"Escape," Lyra stated. "We are going to escape."

* * *

Jyn ignored the low thrum of the music, continuing to run her thumb over the indents ringing the rim of her shot glass. The lights in the bar were low, the way she liked it. Only the shadow of her profile could be recognized, if anyone were there to recognize her at all. She doubted it.

Only a few customers remained, drunk over their respective poisons. Jyn was confident no one would find her, especially at this hour. She glanced to the wall, where a time device clicked and whirred quietly. The rusted streets of Coruscant could provide cover from the most searching of eyes.

Jyn stared off into the outer circles of the galaxy, miles away in her mind. The twi'lek hologram at the door had begun to dance again, casting sensual blue shadows over the floor and across the walls. She did not notice, too far gone in thought to realize that the presence of a visitor triggered the hologram's movement.

Black sand filled her mind, and visions of long gone nights paraded across her sight, where the many rings of her home planet illuminated the sky.

It was hard to realize how much she missed home, with the lowlands nourished by rain and the hands of her father and mother. She missed the mountains of Lah'mu and the great saline seas. That home was all but gone now, she couldn't go back.

Coruscant was once her home too, before they had fled Krennic and found peace on Lah'mu. It was a different time then, a different way of life. She lived in the upper levels of the city, a friend to Krennick's son, educated by the best teachers on the planet. She smiled ruefully.

Rein Krennic had been her most unlikely companion.

He had long forgotten about her, she was sure of it. He lived like a god in the towers above.

A figure stepped to her side, groaning slightly as he heaved himself on the barstool. Jyn turned to face him, meaning to ask his business, sitting next to her when all the other seats were empty.

She turned with an indignant twist playing round the corners of her mouth, when she set eye on a holster, menacing and warning. She glimpsed the old uniform. Her eyes darted over the figure, until finally, his eyes caught her staring.

Jyn turned around swiftly and returned to her pondering. The stranger could take up all the space he wanted, so long as he didn't bother her, or worse yet, arrest her.

Not only was she underage, but her she didn't want to risk bring identified.

 _Don't speak to me, oh stars, don't speak to me._

She slid a few credits across the counter and nodded thanks to the owner, a female run on robotic limbs. The owner winked and turned to the imperial worker. Jyn breathed out quietly in relief as she made her way to the door and out into the streets of lowlife Coruscant.

She pulled her hood over her head and tucked her hair away from sight. She began to walk, blind to the bustle of the city nightlife.

It was loud in the streets, the sellers coaxing or cheating deals from customers and the working women and men calling out from the doorsteps, "Come and get it! Sixty credits for a good time!"

Jyn shuddered, moving opposite from the brothel, holding tight to her canister of credits. She didn't have much anymore, being layed off her old 'job'. She had upset the plutt-like manager by arriving late only by standard minutes. He had fired her immediately. Jyn huffed, the acrid air swelling in clouds around her lips and nose. It was cold at night, but it didn't seem to stop the rest of the population.

Coruscant never slept, tumultuous and filled with riots both political and social. The upper levels of the world were relatively quiet, the traffic of flight in the sky the only disruption.

Cities, like forests, have places within which terrifying and terrible creatures hide and conceal themselves from the world. The lower levels of Coruscant were no different, but those evils which 'concealed' themselves did so in broad daylight. The evils of forests were savage and grand. To Jyn, the evil of civilizations were much worse than that of nature.

Still, the city was beautiful. Through the cracks of the levels Jyn could see the nighttime sky, blue and white, filled with stars and ships. Her eyes lit with the silver glints from above. The crowd began to thicken as she approached the market. Unapologetic hands tried to rip her cloak away from her, but she held on and battered her way towards the building. "Listen, all of you!" She heard a murmur ripple through the crowd. "The end will come, and it's coming soon."

She glimpsed a woman, standing underneath the streetlights which buzzed dangerously as she spoke.

"The galaxy is in danger. We have no hope." The crowd mocked her, pushing in from all sides. Jyn left before it became ugly, skirting carefully down an alley, holding her nose under the sewer pipe lines. She began to run up a flight of stairs, breathing in clean air, until she reached the top.

She slowed before moving to knock on the door. Closing her eyes, she began to fabricate an excuse, settling on the truth. Well, partial truth. She began to bang at the door.

The debilitated old motel was in the dirtiest corner of the 5120th level of Coruscant, wrapped in mantles of soot and waste, and leaning heavily on the crutches one might have called a foundation centuries ago. If the sun ever touched down through the levels it was but a single stream. Never did the moon touch down dapples of starshine.

The frame of the motel shook slightly at her knocking and Jyn ceased at once, hearing footsteps bringing deliverance.

"Who is 'et?" The door opened and a stream of light moved to rest on her face. Jyn pushed past the doorkeeper, who was blinking helplessly. "Oh, Kestrel, yer back. Kai'll 'ave a fit, I'm tellin' ya."

"Thanks Joe, as long as I'm there to tell him."

The old 'space pirate', as Jyn called him, frowned and lumbered back to his chamber, mumbling to himself with quiet indignance "... middle o' tha night, what was she thinkin', crazy lass."

His door closed with a hiss and she stood waiting in the dark of the corridor. This man was a funny creature who loved nothing and did not fear anything except his past. Many a time Jyn heard him apologizing to the wall for all that he had done, for not getting them out in time. The man had but one thought, how to redeem himself in the eyes of his long dead comrades. It was hard not to pity him.

Jyn did not take time to breathe. It was very dark, but she was accustomed to lack of light. She felt with her hand the walls, gripping the railing up two flights of stairs, and finally stopped at the door three down to the left. She slid a card through the entry lock and entered as soon as the door slid open.

Her eyes darted, trying to gage themselves to the dark. Almost immediately an alien form rushed from the back room, freezing in place when he saw the shape of her figure.

"Kestrel?"

"It's me, Kai," Jyn breathed. The figure approached.

"Where did you go?"

"Nowhere." She said.

"Obviously not. You had to be somewhere," The alien wondered aloud. "You cannot be nowhere, that wouldn't make sense at all."

"No, I suppose it wouldn't."

"Why did you leave?"

"I needed time alone."

"Time alone?" Kai's mind turned round. "I thought you would warn me when you needed space?"

"It was different this time."

"Different? I see no difference about this time than from -"

"I told you, I needed time to myself." She lessened her frustration, fingering the necklace around her throat. "If I told you what I've been through Kai..."

 _My mother, dead._

 _My father, gone to the Empire._

 _My only friend, a rebel._

 _Scratch that,_ she thought, _the man who left me to die._

She had little capacity to trust, nursing bitter resent for the two fathers who abandoned her. Not once, but twice, and both times, 'for the greater good'.

"I calculated that you were dead," Kai started.

"But I'm alive. You calculated wrong." Jyn smiled, trying to reassure the wondering alien.

Kai nodded.

"Goodnight, Kestrel."

Jyn started, realizing he was addressing her. She wasn't quite used to be new name. Her head snapped up, color rising in heat upon her cheeks.

"Goodnight." She looked towards the silhouette towering in her corridor.

He nodded once more stiffly, stepping away from the door.

Jyn slumped into a chair, placing her hands to her brow.

 _Kriff._

That was close.

She retreated to the washroom, beginning to take off her clothes, the midnight dark of the room hiding her nakedness. It had been days since her last shower. Jyn's skin prickled curiously as the water ran down her scalp and back. She knelt in the make-shift shower, letting the lukewarm liquid cleanse her. With absent movement she rubbed her arms and stomach raw with soap, taking the lather in her hands to her hair.

It felt so good to be clean.

Under the leadership of Saw Gerrera's militia, she scarcely had time for cleanliness. Always on the move, never resting. Her father's friend taught her roughly, keeping her safe, but only just. Jyn grimaced, remembering the days before her abandonment with disgust. The Partisans were insurgents, acting behind a cause, but beyond the law.

With her hair still dripping wet she found a knit jumper and high socks which were so thick they could have nearly been shoes. Without second thoughts she wrapped herself away and fell into deep sleep. Tomorrow she would start work once again, earning the odd credit or two, until she found something stable. Maybe she could even get a ride off of Coruscant.

* * *

"Where are we going, Mama?" Jyn asked, wide eyed as her family struggled to push through the crowds.

It was weeks after the Ersos resolved to escape. Their plan was finally being enacted.

"We're going to go in a trip, now, keep your mask on, love." Lyra replied, pulling the oxygen mask over her daughter's mouth. The girl frowned, pulling it aside once more for a question.

"Like how you explore?"

"Just like that. We're going to find a new home." Lyra said, skirting aside so that others could pass.

"But why?"

"Some bad people want your father to do some very bad things," she replied, keeping her eyes upon Galen as he shouldered through the masses.

Jyn clung to her mother's neck and held on tightly as bodies closed in around them. The sights, sounds, and smells of the undercity enveloped her. Dwellings and buildings were squeezed in between massive towers and infrastructure that serviced to support the top levels of the planet.

Galen lead his family carefully, holding a cloth over his nose, the fumes and smell of toxic exhaust causing the back of his throat crawl with the need for clean air.

"Obitt said he'd be here," Lyra motioned for Galen to continue ahead. "He said he'd be here." Her eyes scanned the area. She closed her eyes and tapped into the force.

Nothing.

"Galen," she caught up to her husband. "I can't sense his presence, not here. Something has gone wrong."

In the whirling midst of bodies they felt isolated by the fear that they would be caught - and dragged back into the life they were so desperately trying to leave.

Suddenly, a Human man, not the Dressellian they were expecting, hailed them down. Lyra tensed up, fearing they were discovered, but as he approved, she saw his right leg was missing, and a cybernetic replacement creaked in its place with every urgent step be took towards them.

"My name is Saw Gerrera," he ushered them to a waiting vehicle. "Has Obitt is compromised. I'll be taking you to safety."

Galen and Lyra took once glance at each other and knew they had to trust the smuggler.

It would be the first of many times they did so.

"We'll come, immediately," Galen said. He helped Lyra into the vehicle, their eyes meeting once again, briefly before he swung up beside her.

"This will take us to my ship." Saw ran his hands over the controls and brought the engine to life.

Lyra felt for Galen's hand.

The rest was rather a blur to Jyn. Her father and mother sat stoic against the walls of the ship. It was dark when she at last saw the night sky and first saw the stars. In a place like Coruscant, where trillions populate the streets, the light of the city always dims the light of the sky.

"Look," she squeaked. "There they are!"

She sat next to Saw, staring rapture-eyed out the front windows of the ship. Constellations draped themselves across the fabric of the Galaxy, twinkling in perfect order.

She was, in every sense of the term, star struck.

* * *

"Erso is delaying his research, I know because I can tell when he lies. You know, Rein, he's barely comprehensive," The great and tactful Orson Krennick sat hunched over the steelcrete countertop, his usually spotless uniform disheveled and off-white.

The father and son sat before the open expanse of the city, watching the traffic in the sky swarm above, the sky turning from blue to purple, then to black.

Orson eyes focused narrowly on his son, who was standing to attention, his features hardened into an unreadable frown.

Rein Krennic was a perfect mirror image of his father.

The regal stature, impeccable grooming, and the slanted features were stamped on the youth as if he were a carbon copy.

Most men have a particular nature, which is complicated with an air of amoral baseness, mixed with an air of power. Orson Krennic possessed this nature fully, when his wits were not dimmed by drink. He carried himself with haughty authority and great pride. His eyes were electric blue as the energy which flowed through the blood in his veins.

He worked his way up the levels of society as a boy, at last, he believed he was outside the pale of society and the filth where he rose from. He drank to forget. The past was better forgotten.

Orson was conscious of a foundation of disgust, complicated with an inexpressible hatred for the people of whom he had sprung. He avoided the men and women of the streets.

He had entered the empire; he succeeded there and yet he was held back by the continual delays of Galen Erso. He had an army to command, a planet for his use. All of his plans of greatness were hinged on one man.

"He is like a droid, a poorly coded droid," Oson murmured drunkenly. "Barely comprehensive."

"I can't imagine," Rein told his father, deftly concealing the liquor below the counter as he walked behind his father.

"Come here son." Orson pulled the boy to himself, placing his hands to his head. Rein resisted slightly, pulling away from the stench of his breath. "I'm so lucky to have you, you know? Looking at that Erso -"

"I think that's enough." Rein started, glancing to the guards at the door.

" - he has nothing. Not his wife, a lovely little thing, or his daughter, do you remember her? You were such good friends when you were little. Before they decided to rebel..."

Rein closed his eyes, his head still in the grip of the elder Krennick's fingers. He clasped his own hands over his father's, removing them.

He remembered the little girl, with two braids always bouncing as she moved, with the sky in her eyes.

He blinked.

"Yes, I do remember her."

"She's dead now, of course."

"Quite obviously, father." Rein stood exasperated, the burden of his drunken father laying heavy on his shoulders. "Let's get you to bed, shall we?" He motioned for the guards to carry him away.

He stared out the windows watching the glimmer of the city for the remainder of that night.

Whatever did happen to Jyn?

* * *

 **Hello readers! Jyn is in for some action. This story will explore her life in crime before she meets the Rogue One crew. Rein Krennic is the only part of this story that I own. Please rate and review. All my love, elleismyname.**


	2. Touch the Sky

**Chapter Two: Touch the Sky**

 _In which Jyn escapes capture once, but cannot evade fate. Rein seeks for the solution to the problem of his father's behavior._

Lyra gave birth in a Separatist prison. The bars of the bed were cold as ice, and her grip on them were hard as stone.

The quarters in the northern wing of Vallt's Keep rang with many noises that night, from the hush of chains on metal, to the groans which she tried to smother as each contraction shook her body.

Valltii caretakers came to her aid, soothing her screams and wiping away tears.

Although she was imprisoned, Vallt was a planet which revered the birth of children, of any species. The rite to motherhood was sacred.

She was given every comfort - except that of her husband.

"Galen, I need him," she cried out. "I need my husband."

"We can do anything but that," the only human attendant spoke. "Until he agrees to work with the Confederation, you must stay separated."

"Please," she groaned aloud. The human looked uneasy and spoke in rapid Valltii to one of the head caretakers. The alien shook her blue head.

"I'm sorry." The attendant translated, taking great care to avoid Lyra's imploring eyes.

"Can nothing be done?"

"Nothing."

Lyra's mouth opened to retaliate, but her breath caught in her throat and her eyes screwed shut in pain. It was difficult to muffle screaming.

In a complex in the Southern quarters, Galen was chained in solidarity. When the planetary government was overthrown, they had tried to sway his loyalty by imprisonment. He was promised freedom, if he but worked with the Confederation.

The Confederation could go to hell for all he cared, but for his wife he would betray sides. Soon, she would be in need. If she but said the word, he could secure their freedom.

Lyra refused.

"I will not be party to this." She grasped Galen's hands firmly. "You cannot give in."

"Think about our son," he said. "Is that what you really want? To be imprisoned here for such an indeterminate amount of time? We can have our freedom; we have but to take it."

"Or our daughter," Lyra frowned, releasing his hand to move to her stomach. "And yes, it is. Your loyalty should not be bought so easily."

"Lyra-" He gave into the frustration building between them. "It's been too long already."

"Under no circumstances will you work with our enemy." Her voice dipped with severity, and she stood abruptly.

"It wouldn't be working with the enemy."

"Yes, it would, Galen."

"You have to be sure about all of this." He motioned wildly. "Because I won't be able to help you."

"I am."

"But even for the sake of our child?" Galen stood to be beside her. She leaned against him, weary with fatigue. Even though she tired of the argument, she held her ground, adamant that Galen not give in.

"They will take care of me."

"You know what that means." He was silent, the suggestion needing no words to substantiate what he meant.

 _I won't be there when the time comes._

"I do," Lyra said.

They stood together. Galen traced his fingers across Lyra's arm.

"Okay."

Their fate was sealed.

* * *

Rein fumbled for a portkey slide. It was so dark in the windowless hall that he nearly fell through the door as it shot open. He entered, slid it shut carefully, and ascended the staircase. At the top of the stairs he threw off his cloak, leaving on the floors where it landed.

He had left his father's quarters only when he knew Orson was asleep. He lingered into the early hours of the morning.  
Light had already begun to trace the curve of the horizon when he left.  
From the air taxi he could nearly reach out to touch the sky.

The room which he entered after the stairwell was furnished sparsely, adorned neither by decoration or hangings. At one end a mattress laid on the floor, and at the other a table; a fireplace was imbedded in the wall facing the great floor-to-ceiling embers were visible, burning low and flickering red.

Rein threw back his head, aching for lack of sleep.

Now the that the sun had risen, light blinded him, the windows flooding the room with golden and copper tones. He could scarcely think. With a quick succession of claps, the glass shuttered itself and the room darkened.

Rein turned to a side room, much smaller than the living space. He ran water in the sink, cupping it to his face. He rose from washing, surveying himself in the mirror.  
He had the face of his father, but something else stared back. Not the blue eyes, nor the hair which curled like that of an unruly youth's, but something else. His eyes were lidded in red, filled with exhaustion.

Already his twenty-two years appeared to have aged. His name was either mocked with disdain or bowed down to with respect; He was the only remnant of good that his father had brought with him into the world.

Everyone knew that, from the guards who kept watch at Krennic's quarters, silently observing, to the working women who took his money with disdain.

Of course, the partiers loved him.

Orson was renowned for his drinking and partying, which carried on beyond his days at the Futures Program. Very few spoke of it: all knew of his nightlife behavior. His son was disgusted most of all, therefore it was up to Rein to clear the Krennic name.

It was his sole mission, but he had no leverage, no starting place. It seemed helpless, and more and more often men and women turned their head in talk.

Just the day before, while walking through the Library of the Republic, frantic whispers drew his attention to a group of women gathered among the maze of shelved holobooks. He thought nothing of it, but steered his direction away to find a quieter section.

As his footsteps took him away, he overheard fragments such as "Krennic," "last night," and "rave". With his stomach churning, Rein turned into the row parallel to them. He slid a holobook from its place on the shelf whilst listening intently.

"Shameless," one said under their breath.

"Orson must be the cruelest man I've known. I thought, that maybe last night would be fun. Among the crowds he was charming. When we were alone he was callous and demanding."

"I've heard he's hiding things," said another. "Dark secrets."

"Rumor has it that he killed people to cover up the truth about that explosion on Malpaz, did you remember hearing about that?"

"So many people - dead. All gone."

"And you slept with him?"

"I regret it."

Rein regretted listening on them. He felt sick to his stomach.

Those women had looked no older than himself. He exited the building, troubled. He had every right to be concerned. That night he followed his father to the next party, keeping an eye on him.

He grew wary as they descended to the Uscru Entertainment District within the lower level area of the planet. Large billboards lit up the sidewalks, which were riddled with men and women, either gambling, selling themselves, or drinking.

They approached an abandoned apartment complex. As he left the taxi, he realized it was hardly abandoned.

As he stepped through the doors, a wave of music hit him. He shouldered through the dancing masses, finding that the only word to describe it was a rave.

From his jostled position he could see Orson whisper something in a girl's ear. She laughed while he emptied a glass.

Rein began to make his way across the room. Lights strobed continuously, and the mirrors on the wall only further distorted his sense of stability. A woman took him by the arms and kissed him. She leaned into him, tasting of drink. He shook her off only to be passed on to another girl.

Music pulsed throughout the room.

Rein freed himself from the grasp of a woman dressed in transparent robes only to be stopped by a man holding up three vials filled with spice. "Love, want to forget tonight ever happened?"

"No-" Rein had lost sight of his father. Quite honestly, he wanted to forget everything that happened so far that night. But not by way of spice.

"But love! Don't you want to try it? Glitteryll decreases your memories - frankly it gives you better ones too." He pressed a vial into his hands.

"I told you, no thanks." He shoved the vial back onto the drug dealer, a rising temper filling his head with a pounding headache.

He found a path through the bodies and walked intently towards the place he had last seen Orson.

"Wait up, boy."

He was stopped by a woman, tall, and taller in heels. She held her arms across her muscled chest. She guarded his way, yellow eyes flashing. "I'll need to see your identification."

Rein snapped.

"Does the name Krennic mean anything to you?"

The guard acted immediately, stepping aside to let him pass. He lead forward, smoothing back his hair, which had become disheveled on the dance floor.

The passageway was dark, ringed with blue light. He saw no one in sight. Turning a corner, he stopped short once again.

What Rein found next sent him reeling.

* * *

As Jyn walked, she held onto the kyber crystal twisted on leather round her neck.

Somehow, the feeling of the rough shard on her fingers calmed the tension she held in her limbs. She didn't believe in the token the same way her parents did; it could have been a piece of glass for all Jyn cared. She kept it close because it was the last remnant of her mother.

She carried Lyra Erso through the blood in her veins and the necklace over her heart.

The vendor's stalls grew closer together and increased in number, twisting her path so that she found herself wandering among the crowds. She hated the clutter, and yet could not escape it.

The smell of foreign fruit, imported from other planets and spices filled the air, mixing with the exhaust of vehicles trailing among the mass of people.

She stepped to one side and approached a stall filled to the brim with starblossom, kyrf, and shuura.

With lazy movements she lifted the fruit to her nose and inhaled. It smelled bitter, but she knew the inside was sweet.

It reminded her of her childhood. Her mother always kept a basket on the counter. When the fruit ripened, it filled the house with its smell.

The seller eyed her watchfully.

Jyn wanted no trouble - perhaps if she were in a different mood she would have stolen it, but the morning was early and her limbs still loose.

"How much will you sell this to me?" She lifted a shuura up in her palm, weighing it.

The owner grunted and pointed to a sign with prices labelled across it.

"But this one is smaller than the rest, so surely you can lower the price," she coaxed.

At that moment, a low noise began to resound through the marketplace. The sound of tramping feet on metal thundered as warning. Jyn knew that sound and acted at once, dropping the bargain, fruit and all.

"Halt!" Coruscant police swarmed the area, seizing the public with terror. Human and non-human alike fled the scene. Guilty or not, no one wanted to be taken away in chains.

Jyn found herself in the midst of the panic, jostled between lifeforms of every race.

The underworld of Coruscant was home to millions of the planet's population who were either too poor to move upward, or were hiding from the attentions of the authorities.

In both cases, it caused a rush for the nearest alleyways and housing blocks.

Her mind sparked with fear as a hand whirled her round. It was an officer, stun prod raised high. Tensing at once, Jyn closed her fists and bore down as she impacted with the offender.

Hand-to-hand combat was the first thing Saw had taught her during her eight year stretch under his guidance. Fear motivated her, but her instincts guided her aim home. To say the least, she could pack a punch.

"After her," wheezed the officer. "Arrest her!"

Jyn wasted no time, rising from her knees to flee the scene. And then she ran, raking in the air with every breath she took. It burned for lack of oxygen, but still she pressed on, hearing the shouts grow distant behind her.

It was not calculation that guided her, but her familiarity that took her away from the crowds. Living between the vast buildings and infrastructure that supported the surface of the planet gave her one advantage: she knew every nook and cranny that could provide her shelter.

She turned one alley, and scaled a crumbling block stairwell, and rounded pillared arcades until at last, she reached a station.

Being relatively empty, she quickly paid for a pass and moved through the ports until she entered the the train itself. She was met with a blast of cool air. Jyn moved through the carriage until she found an empty seat.

She did not realize she was trembling until her knees gave way as she sat down.

The train, jerking at regular intervals at the junctions of the rails, rolled from the platform. Jyn leaned her head against a rail, enjoying the tremors that vibrated through the metal to her aching skull.

The train was moving more swiftly and evenly, resounding with a slight clang on the rails. Jyn forgot her fellow passengers, and to the swaying of the train she fell to planning her next move.

* * *

Galen slumped against the hard stone of the walls, letting the cold seep into his soul. He dreaded the pain for Lyra.

It was all he could do to numb himself in anyway possible.

Midnight passed into early morning and he shivered in his sleep. The door hissed, releasing pressure, the locks sliding open. He dashed to his feet. Two guards flanked the opening.

"Come with us."

He knew; trembled because of it. He followed immediately.

They took him through the halls until they reached a room.

"You have twenty hours alone." The guards shoved him through and the door clicked shut with a hiss.

He saw Lyra, unconscious. Fear shook him, and he feared the worst.

He approached her bed and smoothed Lyra's hair. She lived.

He did not see the attendant standing in the corner until she was at this side, placing his daughter in his arms.

Overwhelmed, he sat, the tiny burden shifting fitfully. He bent his head and kissed his child's hand, weeping freely.

At daybreak, Lyra awoke.

The morning blurred into the previous days, and she could not remember anything. Her hands lifted by habit to rest upon her stomach: they rested on hollow flesh.

Blind with confusion and fear, she rose abruptly from her pillow and looked around, seeking desperately for anything, anyone.

Galen was by her bedside; he slept here motionless, one arm resting near hers, the other cradling a small bundle.

Relief washed over her.

Lyra Erso had never loved anything; for ten years she had been alone in the world. She had never loved until she loved Galen, the quiet student with equations spinning in his brain.

When she saw her husband, tired and worn, holding their child with such peace, she felt her heart flush with hope. All the passion and affection within her awoke, and tears traced the course of her face.

She slipped from the bed and bent over the sleeping forms of her family. With tender hands, she lifted the bundle from his arms and held her daughter for the first time.

"Hello my star," she whispered. "Welcome to the world."

* * *

Rein wanted to forget everything he saw in that room. Bodies mixed and lay amongst each other. He averted his eyes, disgust showing plainly on his features.

Son saw father, father saw son, and that was that. Rein did not speak, standing resolute.

Orson shoved his partner away and drained the bottle in his hands before straightening his uniform. Rein turned on heel, waiting in the blue striped corridor.

He let his head tip back and rest on the walls. He could feel the building shake with dance, song, and perversions of all kinds.

He felt dirty through the whole night, in the silence in the hallway, in his father's apartment, and in the air taxi home.

He scrubbed at his hands with soap, decided it wasn't good enough, and tore his clothes off. He stepped into a tempered glass box and let the heat of the water wash away his disgust.

It wasn't as though he was not associated with raves and parties gone wild.

He was raised on Coruscant, the planet which pleasured the rich and starved the poor.

In ways, he lead a life quite like his father's, only he was discreet. Orson had money enough to waste his reputation. Rein did not.

 _Never be caught drunk in public._

 _Never be seen with anyone._

 _Never lose face._

He could justify his own hypocrisy, but when it came to others and their moral shortcomings, he was quick to act - especially when it had to do with his father.

Rein quickly dressed in his own uniform, buttoning it at his neck and donning the face of a soldier.

His hair was still wet, water trickling down the collar. Taking pomade he combed it back. Satisfied with his appearance, he left the apartment for work.

He was raised in a military family.

He had no time for sleep.

* * *

Jyn jolted awake.

Something was wrong. In no more than two seconds she left her seat, and dashed through the closing doors to her left - and stopped.

The sky flushed blue above her.

The sky.

She whirled around, and still patches of blue yawned above her. She could see the tops of buildings and apartment complexes. Traffic stretched and lurched to a stop above her head.

A smile broke her lips. She had fallen asleep in the underworld, and had woken up at the surface.  
Reality drained her smile and forced her forward.

She could not hide in a crowd because there were no crowds to hide in. She would stick out like a sore thumb, anyway. Jyn could not help but feel out of place - her clothes were heavily layered for the cold of the undercity, and her face held lines of worry.

As much as she hated to face it, a ticket back to her level would cost her much more. The security was tight on the surface. They would imprison her the moment her face came up on their systems.

So, as every step she took from the station took her further from home, and deeper into the surface layers of the city, she began to plan.

It was time that Jyn enacted her plan to leave Coruscant.

It would take time, but change had thrown her a window of opportunity - and she would take it.

Everything was cast in light. It felt like emerging from staying indoors all winter; she could breath at last. She could be free. In a few weeks she would be off-planet for good. She needed money - fast.

Jyn knew exactly where to look.

* * *

 **Hello readers! What did you think?** **I am trying my best to stay within canon, but since we don't really know what happened to Jyn between the time Saw abandoned her and where we first see her in Rogue One, I'm letting my imagination fill in the blanks. Rein Krennic is the only character I own. Please rate and review!**


	3. The Crescent Star

**Chapter Three: The Crescent Star**

 _In which Jyn cuts her hair, gets a job, and reminisces her past._

"My name is Kestrel Dawn." Jyn extended her hand in the old human tradition, greeting the club owner.

It was with some strange assurance that she pronounced her name. She decided to use it on Coruscant because she had used it once before - on Tamsye Prime.

Perhaps it was foolish of her to use one name twice. Yet it was familiar to her, a comfort. Nonetheless, it did not seem to matter to the man standing before her.

He was an unnaturally tall and slender man, barely able to pass for his own species. He looked like a nightmare from old fairy tales, from the time before Coruscant was endless miles of city.

Coincidentally, this was an asset to his business, especially since it was the business of a club, the Crescent Star. Although clubs are debased and dirty, where opportunity lay, there also lay money. This Jyn knew well.

The nightclub was a few levels down from the surface. Jyn escaped the security lines, circling the weak points in the system until she could slip unnoticed between the craps.

For three days she scoped the air tunnels, taxis, and public transit systems.

Air taxis tracked their passengers. Tunnels were old and unreliable.

She preyed on the public transportation, knowing she could trick security holos with a disguise.

So, Jyn stole a pair of scissors.

For years her hair had always been long, laying against the sweat of her back under combat helmets, or braided away during harvesting seasons on Lah'mu.

The scissors lay cold against her forehead. The metal was heavy in her hands. With a slash, she began to cut out bangs. She didn't think, just cut, chopping the length at her shoulders.

She swept the bangs to the side, parted down the middle, her hair shorn in the sink before her.

The disguise worked together. The hair framed her face differently, concealing her cheeks and shading her eyes.

She traded the scissors for robes, clothing, and eye contacts which glowed opalescent under dark light.

Her focus on the Crescent Star was only to earn money.

She had to be flashy and somehow still protect her identity.

She looked the part of a partier; Jyn applied for the guard position.

"I saw your ad and thought I'd stop in," she said.

He sized her up, eyes squinting in suspicion. After all, his advertisement called for guards - not thin women with peaked faces and hungry eyes.

"Antonix Len, follow me," he said, wiping his hand on his robes after shaking hers.

Jyn followed him to his office, fighting disgust.

It could hardly be called an office. A couch lay adjacent to his desk, on which a female Chagrian lay sleeping.

He startled her awake and ordered her back to her room, presumably to the brothel next door. The creature stretched lazily and sauntered out of the room.

Jyn's hair scratched her cheeks, the newly shorn strands feeling strange.

She stood in silence, waiting for Antonix. He flipped through a holopad with his back turned to her.

"Kestrel Dawn," he said aloud. "Obviously, we'd have to change your name."

"I'm sorry?" Jyn asked aloud, started by his sudden exclamation.

Perhaps the name did mean something to him.

He turned to face her, leaning over his desk.

"I need a guard, and I need one tonight. Your records speak for themselves." He placed the holopad on the desk before him. "Escape from custody, resisting arrest, ship jacking, and possession of unsanctioned weapons."

Jyn was thunderstruck. She tensed, opening her mouth.

"I can-"

"Don't have to explain girlie." He towered over her. Her stomach flipped.

"What?"

"I need a guard. Your record speaks towards your ability to handle slippery situations, if you get my drift."

"I'm afraid I do not 'get your drift'. What are you saying?" Jyn felt dread creeping up her spine. She didn't want to hurt Antonix, but he had walked into a trap.

"You have the job."

"Oh." She couldn't make another sound.

"I can tell you are desperate. I'm desperate too," he said. "It's something about the eyes, you can just tell. Do we have a deal?"

"Yes," Jyn answered.

 _It's probably the contacts._

"Don't get yourself arrested like my last guard."

"I won't," she said, unbelieving she was found out and still offered the job. "I'll make you proud, too."

Antonix Len laughed.

"I don't want you to make me proud. I want to you make me money," he said.

"I can do that."

"Sure, doll," Antonix said. "The uniform is on the table. Wear it. Make sure to intimidate. No one listens to authority when they're high off of death sticks."

Jyn held up the uniform. It was a militant black cut with navy blue stripes bordering the collar, sleeves, and cuffs.

"I can intimidate anyone."

* * *

"Lift your shoulders, square your arms in front of you, Jyn!" Saw Gerrera lowered his blaster to correct her aim.

Bending down, he knelt next to the girl. At sixteen, he trained her harder than any of his men.

He had to.

That day on Lah'mu hurt him more than the death of his own men. When he found Lyra in the grass with a wound the size of his fist marring her corpse, he could not contain his wrath.

He searched the house; Galen was gone.

The tracks in the black sand indicated a formation of soldiers. He followed the imprints to a flattened plane of grass not three hundred feet from the house.

It could only have been Orson Krennic.

He could not find Jyn in the house.

Pain bottled in his throat, choking his shallow lungs.

His fear was acidic. It stung and kept him lurching forward, hoping beyond hope that the little girl had remembered where to hide, that she had not been taken away too.

He prayed he would not find Jyn, face down between the fields and the mountains.

That is why he trained her harder. He knew he could not protect her unless she could protect herself.

He concealed her identity from all - even his own soldiers. She was simply: Jyn. Jyn Gerrera.

Idryssa Barruck, one of the few females in his militia oversaw her safety and health.

"Find her suitable clothes," Saw commanded, revealing the small eight year old clinging to his side.

Idryssa asked no questions, but took the child under her wing.

It was all she could do to help: she could no more salvage the frightened child's innocence than heal a mortal wound - but she tried anyway.

From that moment forward Jyn's life was no longer a childhood.

By the time she was sixteen years old she could shoot, kill, and run among the best of his soldiers. She was instrumental to their success against the Empire.

Most loved her, like Idryssa, who encouraged her at the end of a rough day, or Staven, who made coarse jokes to make her laugh.

Others resented her for it.

Reece Tallent bore hatred for two things: the Galactic Empire and Jyn.

It was unreasonable to dislike a child, this he knew. They irritated eachother since she was eight.

But, when she developed into a warrior in later years, he took offense to her victories. Their miniture fued escalated until the day of the match.

Reece challenged her to a duel.

Jyn accepted.

It was simple as that to spark a civil war within the group of Partisans.

Jyn swung her staff in her hands, which were bound with cloth and taped tightly. Across the circle made by her comrades, Reece stood defiant and flushed with anger.

He advanced, thrusting his staff towards Jyn. She stepped to the side and parried with her own blow.

Then exchange was brief, but powerful.

Reece brought across his staff with a resounding crack against Jyn's shoulder. The soldiers drew the circle in tighter, shouting with excitement. Idryssa looked on, tight lipped and disapproving.

Jyn took the blow silently, and retaliated in full force.

It took three moves to flatten Reece to the ground, her staff to his throat.

Everyone else cheered.

Jyn cradled her shoulder, watching with mounting amusement.

One meaningless, simple defeat planted a seed of hatred within Reece's chest. It grew there and consumed the air in his lungs and blood in his heart. He became bent on her humiliation.

Jyn had to survive in war with the Partisans and against a select few.

Saw trained her until her hands grew calloused by holding her weapons and her back grew bruised under his staff.

When she first bled in battle, Saw celebrated, plugging her wounds with old bacta pads. She refused tears and celebrated with him, swallowing the pain away.

Jyn became deadly.

Over time, Saw Gerrera became paranoid.

She was in every likeness her mother's daughter, carrying the high cheekbones and eyes of her father.

She was of Erso blood, he could not hide her identity through training. He could not imagine the anger which would well up within his own men if they found out she was truly the daughter of an imperial sympathizer. It did not matter to them that Galen Erso worked against his will.

He collaborated with the enemy, and she was his daughter.

It was with fear that Saw concealed her from his soldiers. And yet, as each day passed, she grew stronger under his careful gaze.

"Like this," he said. With a careful eye he moved her hand to the left and moved aside. "Fire now." He motion for the men surrounding her to step away. Xosad Hozem, a Twi'lek male beckoned other resistance fighters to disperse.

They crouched among the trees. Jyn let the wind pass before she obeyed, pulling the trigger in the still air.

Yards away, a hole ripped clean through the middle of the target, hung on the trunk of an old oak. Mutters of 'lucky shot' and 'damn perfectionist' echoed behind her back.

Her lips were pulled tight, but her eyes gleamed with success.

"Again," Saw said, silencing the spectators in the trees. He refused to praise her.

"Yes, sir."

Tap.

Rack.

Bang.

Jyn struck her mark again.

Bang.

And again.

Bang.

* * *

 **Hello readers! This chapter is a bit shorter because I've been negligent with writing and busy with the start of school. Please forgive me - I have chapter four in the works. Rein Krennic is the only character I own. He'll show up soon. Please rate and review!**


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